Flawed Perfection
by weaponwes123
Summary: "Human beings are flawed creatures. Thus, we can never achieve perfection. The best we can do is dedicating our entire life's existence to obtain excellence. This road is fraught with peril…but if we do, we become something greater than being a flawed existence. We reach excellence, we achieve excellence, and thus we become excellence…" Kojiro Itachi did this as Uchiha Itachi.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

Okay, so I am currently starting my life of college as a freshman. Sadly, I have horrible dedication skills to stick to writing fanfictions for long periods of time but I'm working on it. This is one of my newest story ideas that won't just let me sleep in peace so I am forced to write it all down. Well, enjoy!

Flawed Perfection

Chapter 1: My Future Occupation: A Ninja

" _Human beings are flawed creatures. Thus, we can never achieve perfection. The best we can do is dedicating our entire life's existence to obtain excellence. This road is fraught with peril…but if we do, we become something greater than being a flawed existence. We reach excellence, we achieve excellence, and thus, we become excellence…with the ever utopia of perfection distantly in front of us, urging us that we can always do better, achieve more…The Kojiro Clan must become the leaders and heroes that doth leads humanity to an existence closer to perfection; but never to perfection. For if humanity reaches perfection, then humanity will fall asunder its own weight. Our goal…is to grasp upon the rails of a false utopia…and elevate humanity into… the realm of flawed perfection. Thus, we ensure humanity continues on."_

 _\- Founder of the Kojiro Clan, Kojiro Sasaki_

 _(Creed of the Kojiro Family & Philosophy of the Ganryu Sword Style)_

~ o ~ X ~ o ~ X ~ o ~ X ~ o ~ X ~

Uchiha Itachi was a unique individual. As a child, he was already considered to be a one-in-a-million lifetime super genius that was destined to be a great Uchiha S-ranked shinobi.

Why you may ask? Because…

At the age of 2, he learned how to walk. At the age of 3, he could socialize with adults easily. At the age of 4, he mastered the famed Uchiha Interceptor Fist. And now that he was at the age of 5, the clan was waiting to see what more records the young prodigy could set.

It was easy for the Uchiha elders to unanimously decide that this child must be properly cultivated to ensure his maximum potential would be unleashed into the world and thus, make the Uchiha name be feared once more.

And so, at the age of 3, Uchiha Itachi was already being trained to become the next clan head of the Uchiha clan compared to other clan-head children who would start at 6 or 7. It was a remarkable sight to see a child doing a political debate with a forty-one year old man, easily point out all the flaws in his argument, and destroy his opponent's argument within ten minutes.

Indeed, it looked like the Uchiha clan would achieve great fame in the future, with Uchiha Itachi leading them into prosperity. And when the Third Shinobi World War broke out when Itachi was 4, Itachi received even more pressure to lead the red-eyed clan into a golden age.

If Uchiha Itachi had the mentality of a normal child, he would have cracked from all the pressure he received. He could have become a more reclusive individual in order to focus solely on impressing the clan. On the other side of the spectrum, he could have abandoned his duty to the clan all together and commit suicide.

But Uchiha Itachi had a secret…something that not even his mother and father knew, which allowed him to not only retain a healthy personality, but also flourish under all the expectations placed on top of him.

His secret? He could remember every little detail of his past life.

He was once known as Kojiro Itachi – the successor of the Kojiro Family who was molded to become the 21st head of the Kojiro Clan.

He came from a clan that was founded by the legendary Kojiro Sasaki, whose clan perfected the art of kenjutsu to an inhuman degree.

He came from a clan that achieved skills beyond human limits in every field they devoted their entire life's work and made sure humanity would continue to evolve under their watch.

He came from a clan that cultivated geniuses into their genetics using selective breeding to the point that every clan member was a born genius in their own way since 500 years of the clan's founding.

He came from a clan that taught him everything from military tactics to seduction to biology to economics – molding him into a modern day leader with the potential at the levels of Julius Caesar and Napoleon Bonaparte.

But despite Itachi's almost inhuman traits that would make him seem like the perfect human, because Itachi was a culmination of 500 years work of careful selective breeding, one thing failed Itachi.

He was born in the wrong era. He was born in the 21st century.

If Itachi were born 100 years ago, he would have become a famous general of Japan in World War II and make a name for himself in the history books. If Itachi was born 150 years ago, he could have become a shogun and lead Japan to new heights.

But in the 21st century where the world revolved around corrupted politicians and backroom deals, the best occupation he could legally achieve is being national kendo champion or a father (he is expected to father children). And if he did participate in wars in the Middle East, his god-like kenjutsu skills would be near useless against modern guns, tanks, artillery, and drone strikes.

And thus, when Kojiro Itachi was reborn as Uchiha Itachi, it allowed Itachi to show all the inhuman potential he had in this new war-torn world.

It didn't matter if he had a new father or mother.

It didn't matter if he was born in an age that lacked technology of the 21st century.

It didn't even matter if he lived in a world where you could die the next day.

Because this was a world that Kojiro Itachi could only dream of living in.

And this was a world where Uchiha Itachi could only flourish in.

~ o ~ X ~ o ~ X ~ o ~ X ~ o ~ X ~

As he was quietly sitting on grass in his new family's compound, Itachi was closing his eyes while looking inside himself to find the energy source.

His father, Fugaku Uchiha, a stern-faced black-haired man who crossed his arms, stood to the side and quietly observed his son take the first step to become a shinobi for the Uchiha clan.

What Itachi was doing was meditating while looking inside of him to find the energy called chakra, the lifeblood of every ninja.

As he continued to look, his father spoke out, "Your chakra should look like a burning fire in you. Grab it and mold it. Tell me when you have it."

Itachi quietly sat on the grass before he touched it. He felt its warmth flood through his body, energizing each cell in his body to their fullest potential. Then, he smiled.

"Good." The man nodded to his son in approval, "Now, make the hand signals I make to complete the Rite of Passage of the Uchiha clan."

As Itachi walked towards the edge of the pond next to the family's dojo, he watch his father perfectly as he made hand signs:

Tiger-Ram-Monkey-Boar-Horse-Tiger

Itachi saw his father then take a deep breath, tilt his spine back at least 30 degrees, before pushing his torso forward 75 degrees and opened his mouth.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)" His father spoke.

To the amazement of Itachi, his father released a humongous fireball quadruple the size of a modern school bus; its warmth speeding across the pond and burned anything that dared to cross its path.

After the fire snuffed out, his father turned to stare at Itachi. He nodded his head and took a step back.

But unlike normal children at the age of 5 who would immediately try to replicate the phenomenon, Itachi calmly asked questions about the technique. "I have some questions father…"

"Speak." Although Fugaku Uchiha didn't show it, he was very proud that his son proved his intelligence yet again by asking about the minor details of the technique.

After all, becoming a ninja isn't all fun and games as many kids dream of it to be. Doing that jutsu incorrectly could kill any Uchiha inside out.

But nevertheless…he was so proud! His son was already on the right track to become a fabulous shinobi. He wanted to cry manly tears of joy!

But he made sure to listen to the questions his son asked.

"Do you need to do the hand signs father? Wouldn't it be easier and faster to complete the jutsu without it?" Itachi questioned.

Nodding his head in agreement while internally praising his son's level of attention to detail, Fugaku replied, "Hand seals are used to control the amount of chakra being expelled. Yes, it would be faster for a shinobi to use it. But it would be harder for beginners to mold the chakra into the appropriate jutsu the first time. It would cause the user to waste more chakra and take longer to achieve the same result. Thus, beginners must first use hand seals. Only with practice can users slowly eliminate a hand seal at a time until the user can perform the jutsu seamlessly."

"Understood father." Itachi nodded with a smile.

"Any more questions son?"

"None, father."

"Then go." _And make me proud son!_

Itachi nodded his head in agreement. As he took a couple of steps forward, he looked at the body of water where hundreds of Uchiha performed the same rite of passage at the same spot to be considered an adult within the clan.

With his memory, Itachi did each seal a little slower than his father to make sure each hand sign alignment was perfect. After doing the six seals, he positioned his body exactly like his father shown him.

Itachi felt his chakra bubbling up in his chest, threatening to burn his body inside out. Knowing the danger, he pushed his head forward and opened his mouth into an O shape to allow flames to burst from his mouth.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)" Itachi intoned.

To his amazement and delight, Itachi's fireball/flamethrower flame went across the pond and reached the other side.

He completed the Uchiha rite successfully!

While his father was crying tears of joy in the background, Itachi could only smile softly.

 _It seems this world is interesting after all…_

~ o ~ X ~ o ~ X ~ o ~ X ~ o ~ X ~

After Itachi successfully completed the Uchiha rite, he received a bear hug by his stoic father.

Sweat dropping at his father's sudden change of demeanor, he could only watch in shock as his normally stoic father broke out in a grin and ran outside of the compound to inform everyone that his five year old son once again set a new record for being a future Uchiha shinobi.

Itachi could only sigh in distress as heard his father yelling about his awesome his son is. He already knew what came next after his eccentric father's bragging…

Regardless of success, Itachi wanted to practice his fireball jutsu. He thought shooting fireballs was pretty awesome but he wanted to achieve mastery of the technique to the point that he didn't need to use hand seals. But sadly, his remaining reserves caused his second attempt to give him only one little fireball that barely crossed half of the pond.

Calling it a day, Itachi walked away from the pond. He would practice the jutsu again tomorrow when his chakra refilled.

But now, he needed to condition his new body to be just as agile as his old body.

Ignoring the background noise of his father's yelling, he started to jog around the huge pond in the compound to work on his stamina. Then, he worked on some push-ups and sit-ups before practicing the Uchiha kata.

He wanted to master the Uchiha Interceptor Fist before modifying it to add his own style but it required a Sharingan for maximum effect. So, he would need to figure out how to unlock the legendary dojutsu before figuring out how to improve the Interceptor Fist form. But for now, he wanted to ingrain the movements into his body.

Taking off his drenched shirt filled with sweat, the five-year-old prodigy went through his kata with an elegance that showed Itachi's hard work and dedication. It also helped that he used a sword in his past life, allowing his movements to be swift yet graceful.

Once he finished his six-hour long workout with more sweat, he grabbed his shirt and walked back home seeing it was almost time for dinner. Along the way, he saw some of the female Uchiha servants, who were tending the garden, give him praises and smiles for completed the rite.

Itachi thanked each servant personally, with an automatic sensual smile that was ingrained in him from his past life that left many teenage girls blushing and giggling. He walked to his house's porch, ignorant of the fact that many of the girls were checking his five-year-old body out that was showing some definition of muscles.

When he entered the Japanese-styled home, he immediately heard someone cooking in the kitchen. Quickly putting his clothes into the basket and rinsing his sweat off quickly in the shower and putting on a fresh shirt, he went to the kitchen. There, he saw his new mother, Uchiha Mikoto. Unlike his father who had the rugged look, his mother had fair skin with straight and long black hair with bangs hanging on both sides of her face.

"Ah! Hello Itachi-kun! I heard you passed the Rite of Passage. Good job dear. I am proud of you." The female let out a small smile while she was cutting some vegetables on the counter.

"Thank you mother." Itachi let out a similar smile.

"I see you were training after. Just don't work yourself too hard Itachi-kun. You still need to enjoy life before you become a shinobi, you know?"

"It's alright mother. I find training to be a shinobi to be a fun thing. And I can make you and father proud."

Mikoto was worried that all the expectations was going to hurt her child. But Itachi seemed to be happy and healthy. So, she didn't press on.

"Alright dear. Just make sure you don't hurt yourself. Do you want to help me cut some of your father's favorite fruit for dinner?"

Nodding his head in agreement, Itachi took the nearby kitchen knife and started slicing some watermelon on the table for his stoic/eccentric father.

Itachi was happy that he completed the Uchiha Rite of Passage. Now, he was classified as an adult in the eyes of the clan, he could start figuring out what type of training he needed to do in order to become a strong shinobi.

It has been five years ever since he somehow found himself here and he loved this place every minute. For the first time, he had a loving and supportive father and mother. His skills, from his past life, would allow him to make himself a name to be remembered in this world. And the versatility of this chakra energy gave him new ideas on how to improve his family's Ganryu kenjutsu numerous ways.

The only thing Itachi had to worry about was tomorrow's party…stupid father.

 **A/N:**

 **So, I am writing this story because:**

 **The complexity of Uchiha Itachi isn't really captured in the canon. Seriously, telling his brother that he murdered his whole clan to "test his strength" is one of the lamest excuse for justifying murder when he could go ask the Hokage for a spar any time.**

 **Many of Itachi fanfics are all about Itachi x Sakura. The horror! I seriously think Sakura is one of the most one-dimensional main characters in this story. At least Hinata character development does changes over time.**

 **The Uchiha Clan's politics, policy, and members aren't fully flushed out. Only their dojutsu is. Enough said…**

 **The arts of kenjutsu and genjutsu are only just touched on. Most characters using highly explosive jutsu to kill their enemies while annihilating the landscape.**

 **Sasaki Kojiro from Fate/Stay Night (Assassin from 5** **th** **Grail War) is one of the most badass characters of the series.**

 **Write a review and tell me how you like (or don't like T_T) this story!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

Flawed Perfection

Chapter 2: The Second Step to Become a Ninja

" _Dedication is necessary for one to succeed. However, dedication can only go so far in the face of human limits. How can the Kojiro family transcend our human boundaries but without shedding the skin that doth make us mortal? The answer is thus: we must ensure our children and our children's children will produce prodigies who will achieve excellence without the help of outsiders. As each generation moves forward, the clan will be always being one step closer to reaching perfection. The Kojiro family will become the leaders of the future in the wake of human advancement."_

 _\- 9_ _th_ _Head of the Kojiro Clan, Kojiro Kenzou_

 _(Advocating the Use of the Selective Breeding Policy)_

~ o ~ X ~ o ~ X ~ o ~ X ~ o ~ X ~

When Uchiha Itachi woke up the day after successfully completing the Uchiha Rite of Passage, he knew today would be a horrible day. Regardless of his opinion on the matter, he knew that his father would – once again – host a party in the night to show off his son.

Itachi sighed in distress. As much as he understood that these parties are essential keep the morale of the Uchiha clan high during the Third Shinobi World War, he didn't like being treated like a doll to be shown off by his father. It was also a waste of time in his opinion.

 _But most of all…the-e fan g-girls…t-they always appear out of nowhere…and t-they talk to me…and get in my personal space…and t-touch me…and p-pull me into a room…and-_

Swallowing the bile that was itching to come out of his throat, Itachi swiftly buried that thought deep in concrete and threw said concrete into the metaphysical ocean in his mind. Wanting to forget about the horror that would fall upon him today, Itachi quickly went to brush up to make sure he got ample amount of time to train before he had to attend the party.

Quietly opening the wooden sliding door of his room, he picked up some workout clothes left on a table outside his room that a maid placed. Itachi quietly walked towards the bathroom to get ready for the day.

Entering the bathroom, he saw his new self. Looking in the mirror, he saw his child size body that was a little taller than his other body with his purple hair is now jet-black silky hair was on both sides of his face. He noted that he had the feminine features of his new mother, Uchiha Mikoto, with fair skin, thin eyebrows, and onyx eyes.

If he didn't know any better, he looked just like Kojiro Sasaki without the purple hair and eyes. He just needed to grow out his hair and turn it into a ponytail.

Finished with inspecting his body for any previous injuries from yesterday's training, Itachi turned on the faucet and got into the bathtub for a soak. Closing his eyes to relish the warm water filling up the tub, he prayed out loud to any god of this world to save him, "I hope I don't need to talk to a lot of fan girls…"

~ o ~ X ~ o ~ X ~ o ~ X ~ o ~ X ~

The separate spheres of influence of what authority men and women have within the Uchiha family structure was and is still a confusing one.

Before, surviving text dating back to the beginning of the Warring States Period stated that the Uchiha was a pre-dominantly patriarchal family. The father was the main authority figure of the family with the eldest son being the second authority figure of the family. Then, the power would be in the hands of the second-son, then the third-son, and so on. The mother would be having less authority than all her sons in the family and any daughters would have practically no authority within the household.

So, it was common for fathers to offer their daughters quickly in arranged marriages, with the mother having little decision-making ability in her daughter's future.

There were a lot of conflicts that arose from this arranged marriage practice because there was a heavy emphasis on tradition. It dictated that a male could only be paired up with one female and they would each stay loyal to each other in a monogamous relationship. Thus, it was common for Uchihas in the main branch to set arranged marriages with other main branch Uchihas before the children were even born to preserve the "nobility" blood. While the secondary branches would try to use arranged marriages for political and economical purposes to hopefully enter the wealthy class.

Also, this structure also resulted in fathers training only males in the arts of shinobi. Daughters were trained by other mothers to be meek but loyal women to their arranged future husband and manage the household. The only exception to this rule would be any daughters of clan heads who would receive basic shinobi training along with how to become a "proper" wife.

Because of this patriarchal structure, Uchiha males saw more conflict and died on the battlefield at a faster rate than the females. Thus, it was common to have a ratio of 1 man to every 3 women in the population of the Uchiha clan during the first half of the Warring States Period. Any surviving Uchiha male shinobi over the age of 14, that seen conflict, were expected to father at least five children, with a minimum of three boys with only a single wife.

At the turning point of the Warring States Period, the Onin War broke out between the shinobi mercenaries and the Daimyo's samurai forces. Fearing the various shinobi clans were gaining too much wealth from the squabbling of the various Daimyos, the samurai leader Ashikaga Tadaaki – at the behest of his Daimyo – led his forces through what was now known as the Land of Rivers to attack the two strongest and wealthiest shinobi clans of the west, the Senju and Uchiha.

Because this large-scale war that started relations between the Senju and the Uchiha, this conflict slowly engulfed over 50 different factions on both sides. The male population of the Uchiha dramatically dropped as the war continued to wage on for five long years. With no signs of the war stopping, it looked like the Uchiha Clan would be annihilated within a year or two as the ratio of males to females was getting close to 1:11.

Thus, a radical decision was made – called the Feminine Equalization Training Decree – in order to prevent extinction of the clan. For the first time in history, females would also be trained in the shinobi arts to preserve the male population. And with this movement made, females would slowly gain more authority within the household and the Uchiha clan as a whole.

Interestingly enough, the Uchihas was the first clan to start this policy but the idea would eventually spread to other clans like the Senju. Clans that refused to give equal training opportunities to women would either collapse under a civil war or be eventually annihilated in time.

With the end of the Onin War four years later, the remaining Uchiha male population was so low to the point that all of the surviving Uchiha Clan leaders were female. Thus, one of the most important changes that came out of the Onin War was that the Uchiha clan shifted from a patriarchal to a matriarchal structure, with females becoming the main authority figure.

But because the male population was so low, traditions were briefly ignored at the time so that males were expected to have at least three different wives and produce a total of eight children. The baby boom that resulted from the separation of traditions created a climate of arranged marriages also changed as mothers made the decisions instead of fathers. It also resulted in the elevation of a new class, the Middle-Tier class who are children born from parents who had both nobility and secondary branch blood.

After the baby boom six years after the Onin War, traditions fell back into place with one man staying married with only one but the matriarchal power structure stayed.

It wasn't until the Senju-Uchiha Blood Feud War 30 years later that the famous clan head Uchiha Madara would slowly influence the clan to turn the matriarchal structure back into a patriarchal structure.

Madara's mother died from the complications of childbirth. So Madara's belief on the system was shaped by the only remaining authority figure of the family, his sexist father – who didn't think too highly of women at the time.

But Madara's wishes to change the Uchiha clan back to a patriarchal structure were repelled back by the Uchiha elders who were all females at that time.

With the increasing hostility between the clan head and the elders, a civil war seemed to be on the horizon. Although both factions had very confusing yet contrasting views of how much influence the male and female should have in the family, it almost started a cold war between the two Uchiha factions. But a civil war never erupted because it was fully agreed upon that the feud with the powerful Senju Clan was more important at the time.

Instead, there was a lot of political squabbling fought in the clan between the two groups.

In conclusion, there was a cold war going on in the backyard of the Uchiha Clan with an actual shinobi clan war being fought in the front yard during Senju-Uchiha Blood Feud War.

This two front war caused almost three-fifths of the entire Uchiha population to shrink at the population levels to the time of the Onin War.

It was only at the end of the Senju-Uchiha Blood Feud War that the Uchiha finally accepted that the clan head and the elders factions needed to reconcile their differences to prevent another military disaster to occur.

There was a compromise created between the two groups when the Uchiha finished settling in Konohagakure called the Gender Equality Decree. Although tensions would still exist after the founding of Konohagakure, civil war wouldn't break out between the two political factions.

Addressing the problem of gender authority, it was declared that males would run the household at an equal level with the females, but it was up to the family themselves on what structure they would use. There was a lot of other important parts in the decree that tried to find a middle ground between tradition and equality. The most important part of this decree was that it required that both sons and daughters would receive equal amounts of shinobi training.

Furthermore, parents now needed their child's consent before trying to arrange a marriage with a candidate, reducing the political bickering between families trying to marry into wealthy families for political and economic purposes.

But as time went forward, there were less arranged marriages in each generation as societal norms changed. More children wanted to find their true love, so the clan allowed them to as long as they were individuals within the clan. Harems were forgotten in time as the traditional one husband and one wife model was and is still heavily favored to ensure there is cohesion among the family in the household.

The problem Uchiha Itachi was facing while he was freaking out about attending the party was that because he was a considered a genius with the level of potential not seen since Uchiha Madara, many families in the Uchiha clan wanted his genes to sire powerful children and therefore tried to encourage their daughters to woo Itachi. It also didn't help that he would become the clan head in the future, once his father stepped down, which meant that whomever he would pick as his wife would be elevated into nobility along with her family.

Furthermore, many females of all ages within the Uchiha clan had an eye on Itachi for a long time because he was considered one of the most ideal husbands to have in the future. He was considered to be intelligent, handsome, kind, honest, thoughtful, modest, and somehow sexy…and a host of other good traits that made Uchiha Itachi become number 1 in the Uchiha Girls Gossip Club's list of Best Potential Husbands to Grab.

And this list was released when Uchiha Itachi was a mere three years old boy.

Itachi wanted to bang his head into a wall when he saw the list for the first time in disbelief.

But using his abnormally developed mind, that shouldn't have existed in a child, he could already predict about how much trouble he would have interacting with the opposite sex. But in the end, he figured that he would grit his teeth and make use of his popularity for politics when he took over the clan.

Except that…it was way worse than Itachi could have ever predicted because of the existence of the species known as fan girls. These hormone-pumped females with chakra flowing through their veins allowed the females to appear out of nowhere and try to somehow stalk him everywhere. He was lucky that he never went out of the compound too much before. Itachi couldn't think he could survive any more fan girls.

 _Funny, I didn't remember having such girls back in that era…_

Thus, Uchiha Itachi was praying that at his coming-of-age party, he wouldn't receive too much contact with fan girls…they are way too creepy for his taste. And he couldn't tell clearly if the females had an unhealthy obsession with him or wanted to be in his good graces for political reasons.

 _I take it back…this place really sucks…I guess I got to make the best of it. Hopefully, there won't be too many…After all, how many females can there be at the festival in the clan when there is a war on our heads?_

Poor Itachi…he should have known better to tempt fate…

~ o ~ X ~ o ~ X ~ o ~ X ~ o ~ X ~

After washing up, Itachi quietly went to the backyard to practice the jutsu he learned yesterday. He was still thinking of ways on how to use a fireball in combat. But his main goal was perfecting this jutsu.

Closing his eyes once again, he felt the warm chakra – which he used for the first time yesterday – flowing in his body. Smiling at how easy it was to harness the energy compared to yesterday, he walked up to the pond.

Sub vocalizing the attack in his mind, he used _Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)_ successfully. But since he was closing his eyes, he could "see" the chakra leaving his body.

But most importantly, he noticed some of the wasted chakra going elsewhere in his body and vanish.

Itachi thought, _I need to one day get time to research more about this energy source and how to use it efficiently. Maybe go to the Uchiha library? Or perhaps father's personal one? And when will father decide it would be the time to start my ninja training and teach me how to become a real shinobi? I think I already learned everything that I needed to take over the clan._

After wondering what his somewhat idiotic/bipolar father planned on teaching him, Itachi performed the jutsu again. He was delighted to see that his second fireball was a little bigger than yesterday. He concluded that his chakra source slowly got bigger. _So, this chakra source is just like a muscle. The more you use it, the larger it gets…_

Reviewing all the observations he knew about this new energy one more time, he started his daily jog around the pond since he didn't have the chakra reserves for a third fireball at the age of 5. He needed to still understand the intrinsic components of this almost supernatural-like energy before incorporating it into his Ganju kenjutsu sword style. Also, he needed to find what would be the best materials in this world has to make his weapon. It wouldn't do to find himself flat footed and die before he achieved anything note worthy. Itachi also didn't want to go down fighting without a trusty long-ass katana.

Doing the same practice routine he did yesterday for the whole day, with some breaks and lunch in between, Itachi relished the familiar aching and burning sensation of his muscles. Itachi knew that his new body would be a lot better a lot faster to train than his old body because of how efficient chakra healed him. It would just take time, effort, and energy to surpass his old self. And he had a lot of everything.

~ o ~ X ~ o ~ X ~ o ~ X ~ o ~ X ~

The Red Imperial Shrine represented the very peak of the Uchiha social scene, entry into which was restricted to an Uchiha clan member only and no other villager outside the clan; not even the Hokage was allowed without special permission.

The joyful atmosphere permeated this festival as all avaliable Uchiha in the entire compound took the day off to conglomerate at this very shrine near the clan head's house.

Here, both the upper and lower social classes mingled with each other – without the reminder of death and despair beyond the gates of the village. Shops opened stalls to provide delicious treats, friends got together to have some sake, and children played together in various games and set off fireworks.

The mastermind behind this festival, Uchiha Fugaku, was laughing with his friends and associates from the Konoha Military Police Force. Relaxing with some dango, he started to prattle about his son's achievements while doing arm wrestling with an old childhood friend. Uchiha Mikoto on the other hand was quietly helping the shopkeepers bringing more food to replenish the quickly disappearing snacks.

And where was Itachi you ask?

Well, he was armed in a beautiful and comfortable red-maple kimono to fight in the war called politics. Our protagonist is inwardly sweating as he is currently surrounded by a crowd of women from various ages from six all the way to thirty-five while having different conversations simultaneously with the various women at the same time.

Lucky bastard…or un-lucky guy…depending on how you look at it.

"Congratulations on completing the rite at such a young age Itachi! Your parents should be very proud." A black-haired woman, who didn't look a day older than twenty, spoke while grinning at the famous Uchiha prodigy.

"Yes they are very proud of me. Thank you for your praise." Itachi said with a sensual smile plastered on his face that made the female squeal in her mind by how cute Itachi was. Inside, however, Itachi was fighting a war in his mind not to run away from these Uchiha females as he absentmindedly check out each female talking to him. _She is wearing a lot of make up…but damn…she looks very beautiful…she could have been model…_

"Do you know what squad specialist you want to be Itachi when you graduate from the Academy?" Another female, this time one of the twins, asked happily while twirling a lock of black hair.

"I think I would work well in a tracking, recon, or perhaps the assassination squad." _How the hell does she have a bust size that big? Wouldn't that hurt her back…and she has a lot more of room for growth…what do they feed these girls?_

"Oh? So do you know what chakra affinity do you have besides fire?" The other twin of the teen who spoke next questioned as she subtlety moved her body to show off her assets.

"I am sorry. But what is chakra affinity?" _And now the other one is showing off her long smooth legs and – Gah! I really need to focus. I still need to read more about chakra…maybe I should find out why people have chakra in this world as possible sides project if I have time…?_

"You don't know about chakra affinity?" A female Uchiha replied with an eyebrow raised in disbelief while wearing a kimono that emphasized her curves, "Well, chakra affinity your affinity towards one or more of the basic five nature transformations which makes certain elemental jutsus easier to learn and use over others."

"I'm sorry. My trainers have been teaching me only on current politics and playing shogi in case my father dies and I need to take over the clan. I already mastered history, economics, and science. I have a minimal understanding of chakra based on my observations." _Wow…her hair looks beautiful and healthy…I wonder what type of shampoo she uses to keeps it looking shiny and luscious?_

"Then, do you do any training by yourself if no one teaches you? Because I see something developing here…" A woman spoke sensually with a smirk as her eyes roamed shamelessly over Itachi's body.

"I only practice the Interceptor Fist everyday before and after lessons along with some simple body exercises. Yesterday was the first time I unlocked my chakra so I only know one jutsu so far." _Stop tempting me with your cleavage woman and eyeing me like I some kind of steak! God damn it! I am so screwed when puberty sets in._

"Oooh! Does that mean you did _Gokakyu no Jutsu_ on your first try? You learn damn fast bro!" A little girl behind him grinned as she pushed her developing chest on his back with sparkly black eyes glinting deviously.

"Yes, I did." _Watch the hands girl…watch the hands…Do they really teach seduction techniques to little eight-year-old girls in this era? I am really scared to see what happens when she grows up._

"Oh…so you learn things very fast, eh?" A woman, wearing a beautiful ruby-red necklace, spoke with a grin as she tilted her head and put one hand on her cheek.

"Ah…I am very sorry if my steep learning curve makes you feel…inadequate. Forgive me…" Itachi said to her awkwardly, bowing his head towards her. Also, _can you please stop bending forward to show off your behind…I can see it clearly outlined with your tight clothing…Is she wearing something down there…? I really hope she isn't going commando…_

"Oh! No, no, no, no, no…I think it is a good thing Itachi if you learn fast…I can't wait till you get older. Then we will really see how fast you learn…" An Uchiha on the Itachi's right said with a tint of lust and pink decorating her cheeks slightly. "…in the bedroom" she mumbled to herself. But Itachi heard it.

Before Itachi could formulate a reply, a teen with black nail polish on her nails spoke, "Indeed…and if your body develops as fast as it is now…then you will grow in fabulous ways like…ah…a…oh my!" and finished by giggling perversely as her nose started to bleed when she imagined an older Itachi and her doing the horizontal tango.

"Oh, well then I…ah…uh…uh…a…" Itachi quietly mumbled, as his mind – which was observing and taking notes on which females could be great potential allies, friends, or teachers for the future – grinded to a halt when the innuendos slammed right into his face. The older woman around him believed that Itachi didn't understand the innuendos – since he was a child – and thought he couldn't formulate a proper answer to a confusing statement. But Itachi did understand it. His past life allowed him to understand most of the double entendres. Itachi just had a problem: … _how…how in…how in the hell can I respond to that without offending people…uh…what to do…oh…aha!_

As more females continued their conversations with him, ignoring his previous stuttering, they were slowly getting closer and closer. Itachi really thought that they were already way to close and didn't need to get closer since they already invaded his personal space. Behind the Uchiha female who was wearing the beautiful ruby-red necklace, he saw his savior: his father.

Hoping that his father to son bond is truly special – as his would father always proclaim every morning during breakfast; he stared straight at his father who was drinking some sake while talking with friends at the corner of the shrine.

It looked like Itachi's quick prayer got answered when his father's stern coal black eyes locked on to Itachi's equally coal black but pleading eyes.

Then…it looked like it failed him. Itachi's breath left him in despair when he saw his father cry his "manly" tears – when he saw his awesome son get surrounded by females – giving him two thumbs up while grinning in happiness. Then Fugaku started, once again, started bragging about his son was a chick magnet while pointing at the Itachi's group that featured various beautiful females and one kid in the middle. The other males in his father's group could only whistle and grin in approval.

Itachi could only let out a sweatdrop at the responses of his fellow male clansmen. But most of all, it didn't look like his father would save him anytime soon. _Thanks dad…some bond we have…_

Luckily for Itachi, he was saved when he saw the sea of women depart in front of them to reveal a woman walking towards him.

"Mom!" Itachi said in relief.

"Hello Itachi. Sorry girls, but I will need to borrow my son for a bit." Uchiha Mikoto said sweetly, but everyone understood what she said was everything but a suggestion.

Without any protest from the surrounding females, Itachi quickly followed his mother quietly and obediently as they walked down the steps of the shrine without any talking. He let out a sigh in relief. He was finally away from those fan girls… He was free!

~ o ~ X ~ o ~ X ~ o ~ X ~ o ~ X ~

It was a quiet night where the Uchiha pair was walking. The party was still going on, so he could hear shouts and screams from the temple while owls made a whistling noise in the background. Itachi enjoyed the nice warm weather despite it being at night. It was one of the perks that he enjoyed living in Fire Country. But despite this calm atmosphere, Itachi was anything but calm. For some reason, his danger sense was pinging. And it was pinging loudly at his mother.

After ten minutes, they started to make a left at the corner to where the commercial district was. When Mikoto was about to turn left, Itachi immediately pumped chakra into his legs and ran as fast as he could in his new body towards his "mother". He discovered this this morning by wondering if he could force his chakra to heal his leg muscles. Instead, he learned that while it did not fix the muscles, the chakra made his muscles output a lot more power.

Seeing the slight twitch in the torso of his "mother" that indicated a possible left kick or right punch, Itachi used his right leg to jump in the air. Spinning his body, he aimed his left leg at the figure's head in a back spinning roundhouse kick that would leave an ordinary civilian with a very bad concussion.

However, the figure was anything but ordinary as she used her left arm to block the Itachi's kick without turning around.

Quickly realizing the impostor, who was impersonating his mother, was much stronger than he anticipated, Itachi used the female's appendage and pushed himself away from the woman before throwing the hidden kunai from his kimono.

To Itachi's shock, the figure didn't move from the intersection of all the kunai flying towards the target. Then, the sharp weapons pierced the female and figure broke apart into black butterflies.

Realizing that the impostor somehow created an illusion, which were called genjutsu in this world, Itachi went into the traditional defensive stance of the Interceptor Fist stance while keeping his senses open for any attack.

He cursed himself for not taking some time off to gain a full understanding what chakra could be used for in fighting. Alarms rang in his head when his instincts told him that he was going to be attacked under him. But Itachi felt helpless as his body was for some reason was moving so slow like he was swimming through concrete. He could only watch helplessly as he saw the punch come out of the ground and hit his jaw – sending his body flying. Cursing in his mind for once again underestimating the enemy's abilities, Itachi spit out the blood that gathered in his mouth while flying in the air. As he was falling back down to the planet, he retaliated by sending more kunai at the figure, but this time with the help of chakra to boost his throwing strength.

As the figure dodged the metal projectiles with an almost feline-like grace, Itachi landed on the ground. Seeing that his opponent is still occupied with dodging the flying kunai from above, he quickly ran through the hand signs for the jutsu he learned yesterday. Feeling the familiar burn in his lungs, he let out a small but fast fireball as he mentally said, "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)."

Seeing the figure get hit by the fireball, he let out a quick smirk before realizing he was once again tricked when he saw a burnt log instead of a burnt body. Following his instincts, he threw a kunai behind him. The kunai pierced the figure in the head before, once again, dispersing into black butterflies.

Cursing at his opponent toying with him so easily by the ninja, he could only watch helplessly as the female impostor that adorned his mother's features somehow enter his personal bubble without his instincts noticing and engage him in a hand to hand taijutsu battle. Infusing the maximum amount of chakra into his muscles safely without tearing apart his muscles, Itachi's speed dramatically rose five times faster to accommodate the swift feline grace his enemy had.

But it was not enough. Itachi's opponent was much faster and flexible than him while he still felt like he was waddling through concrete and thus was quickly overwhelmed despite his fighting experience he gained in his previous life. He was so outclassed in this battle because not only his body was that of a five year old, he didn't understand how the inner energy source these people used in a variety of different ways. He knew the enemy did something to his body to make him slow down but he didn't know what. _A genjutsu maybe? She…if she is a she…likes to use genjusu. So maybe it's her specialty? If that is true, what could be a weakness that I can exploit?_

Once again, he cursed his own arrogance for not taking the initiative to understand chakra on his own in his free time. Despite no one teaching him how to use the energy called chakra until yesterday, he realized that he was stagnating in his fighting skills and wasn't taking his ninja training as serious as it he should be. It might have been all the praises going to his head but ever since he came here, he kept treating the world like a fun game.

Itachi swore, that if he survived this, he would put a lot more effort into improving himself. Ever since he came to this world, he has become lazy. He already broke the creed of the Kojiro Clan by not fully dedicating himself towards becoming a ninja. And if he survived this, he promised to himself that wouldn't do so again or he would commit seppuku.

His internal musing was broken when he saw a kick flying towards his face. Seeing it was already a loosing battle, Itachi tried something suicidal. He used his torso to absorbed the impact of the kick. Coughing out the copious amount of red liquid on the face of his opponent as he felt multiple ribs crack, he grabbed on the leg as strong as he could. Feeling the familiar burn in his lungs, Itachi let out another fireball directly at the opponents face. Itachi happily praised himself internally when he realized he did the jutsu with no hand signs – although his fireball was six times smaller than his normal fireball – and saw the fireball explode on the figure.

While his body was also caught in the explosion and went flying into a tree, he watched the figure carefully in the middle of the blazing firestorm. Feeling his skin burn from the explosion, he gritted his teeth and ignored the pain all over his body while standing up slowly with the help of the tree as he didn't leave his eyes on the figure.

It was then he knew something was wrong when the female smiled at him happily while her body was on fire.

Then, the whole world shattered like glass, revealing a female kunoichi bear hugging him from behind while a kunai was near his throat. All his appendages were locked under the iron grip of the female and he couldn't turn his head around for another kamikaze fireball. And even if he could, he didn't have much chakra left to do so. Itachi knew he was in checkmate.

"Good job boya. You actually made me sweat there for a bit. You do have a lotta potential in ya. Such a shame you couldn't use it in this battle properly." The female whispered in his left ear sultry as she pecked the cheek of the five year old.

But whatever things the female was doing to his body, it wouldn't have register with Itachi. Itachi could only feel the sharp metal made a small incision on his skin while the rest of the body seemed numb. He could hear someone talking to him, but it was mute. Feeling the red drop of blood slide down his body, Itachi realized something: he was going to die. He was going to die! He, Kojiro Itachi turned Uchiha Itachi was going to die.

 _OhmygodimgonnadieimgonnadiediediediedieIwillbeforgottennoIwilldisappearIjusthavetorunjustrunawayandbesafeorIamgoingtodiediedie…NononononononoIcantdieIdontwannadienonononono…_

Itachi remembered something from his past.

 _I don't want to be forgotten…_

Remembering the moment when he died in his first life with perfect clarity, Itachi flared his chakra as he didn't want to die a second time. The Uchiha genetics kicked in as the emotional trauma started to unlock the dojutsu. But before the three-tomoe dojutsu could be unlocked to its first stage, Itachi's world froze.

~ o ~ X ~ o ~ X ~ o ~ X ~ o ~ X ~

When Itachi opened his eyes, he lost his breath. Somehow, he knew he wasn't in the Uchiha Compound anymore. While the idea of being teleported raised several alarms in Itachi's mind while recovering from a near-death experience, he ignored it in favor of taking in this breathtaking scenery.

Itachi found himself standing on a white snowy plain with trees with a blue sky filed with shining starts. White rabbits that numbered in the hundreds dotted the landscape as they cutely hopped in the snow and frolicking happily. Black figures that he recognized as some type of bird was flying in packs were making complex maneuvers in the blue sky. There was even a very watery blue planet in the sky, making the scenery even more beautiful. Itachi wished he had a camera – even though no one invented a handheld one in this era.

" _Oh…? It's rare to have a visitor in here._ " Suddenly, a melodious voice snapped him from his marveling of the beautiful environment. Looking around, he tried to find who was talking to him but to no avail.

" _Fufufu…up here child_." Itachi quickly looked up as his eyebrows shot up past his hairline. In the sky, he saw a beautiful woman with delicate facial features sitting crossed-legged while floating. He quickly took note of this female's features: long sweeping white hair, short eyebrows, dark red lips, red wine nail polish on her long fingernails, impressive breasts, and high-collared gold and purple hime-kimono with tomoes in the center. But what got Itachi's attention was that he saw she had a slit on her forehead and two brown horns on her head.

Slowly, the female slowly descended on a tree branch and sat elegantly while looking inquisitively at the boy who entered her domain/prison. She already knew that he was a descendant of her grandson, Indra, from the coal black eyes and the red and white fan on the back of his clothing.

" _So tell me, what brings you here to this domain child?_ " The mysterious woman elegantly said.

"I do not know mam." Itachi said as he bowed in respect towards the woman. From the way she moved, he could tell that she was some type of noble with a lot experience in fighting. And she seemed nice enough, so a little respect wouldn't hurt until proven otherwise. "I was fighting an enemy and I think I was about to die before I found myself here."

"Oh? A young boy such as you is already fighting to survive? The world never ceases to amaze me with its acts of depravity." The woman said with a sigh, as she sadly looked on the cute child in front of her. _He looks like he is around four-maybe five years old and he already experience the feeling of death…such a shame. He is a well-mannered child too. I still wonder if…if it was worth it…?_

Feeling melancholy once again, she tried to ignore the pain in the heart as looked over one of her many descendants. As much as she was sad that such something so pure like a child just got tainted by an experience he shouldn't have at such a young age, she was also secretly happy because she somehow could talk to a human while being sealed in this prison. It has been, after all, over a millennium when she had a decent conversation with another human. It also made her feel very guilty. " _Tell me child, after brushing so close to death…do you ever believe there will be peace in the world?_ " She said solemnly as she looked at the blue planet in the sky. She continued, " _Can humanity ever achieve real peace…?_ "

Itachi was caught off guard by the woman's bitter attitude. Wondering why such a beautiful person would be bitter about life, Itachi wondered what did she experience in her life to make her outlook on the world be so negative. "Peace…peace is impossible, mam. It is impossible for humans to ever achieve peace."

" _And why child, do you say that?_ " She said solemnly with an undertone of anger. Her head snapped back onto Itachi as she clenched her hands into tight fists.

"Because…if humanity ever achieves real peace, then humans will stop evolving. And if humans ever stopped evolving, then they will die. Mother Nature made all organisms fall under this golden rule of time because everything must change over time. And humans are no exceptions to this rule… Conflict is needed for humans to innovate and change." Itachi recited, as he remembered the philosophy of the Kojiro family. As much as he hated it, he knew that real peace was a lie. Every year, day, hour, minute, second, someone was committing a horrible crime to another human being in the world. It was impossible for every human in the world to work together unless they are all dead.

" _Then…_ " The woman clenched her fist in sadness, as she realized that this child was much wiser than his appearance led on. _Just like Hagoromo…he could always see the future. He is truly your ancestor, child…_ " _Then…is peace a lie?_ " She said mournfully.

"No." Itachi yelled, before continuing solemnly, "No. Although humanity cannot achieve peace as a whole, everyone can achieve their own peace." Itachi's eyes clouded as he remembered the time when his grandfather spent time with him in his past life. Although those moments were few and far in-between, he enjoyed those moments of time when he could enjoy a playing shogi with him with a cup of tea. "That is why I must become strong. So strong that no one can destroy my peace!"

" _I…I see then. Thank you child…no you are not a child._ " She said thoughtfully, while replaying Itachi's argument in her mind. It was a very different view on how to achieve peace. Smiling for the first time in a millennium, she relished the short but thoughtful and philosophical discussion she just had in a very long time. " _Tell me then, what is your name dear?_ "

"Uchiha Itachi."

Floating down, the woman softly landed on the snow and made her way towards Itachi slowly with a smile. Itachi didn't feel any malicious intent from her so he just was content to observe the beautiful woman who was actually quite tall. As she got near Itachi, she knelt down and gave him a motherly smile. Grabbing both sides of Itachi's face, she looked over the boy's androgynous features that contained some hints of herself and her children.

It was when she looked closer at Itachi's eyes when she saw his eyes continued to flicker from black to red and back to black. Itachi's dojutsu seemed to be on the verge of unlocking but could not surpass the final barrier to unlock it. Concerned about her new companion, she activated her Byakugan – while hiding the bulging veins under a genjutsu to not scare the boy – and tried to see what was wrong with his eyes.

It was then she saw something wrong with the boy's core. Although Itachi may have not noticed it, his chakra was very imbalanced with a lot of yin chakra with little amounts of yang chakra at a ratio of 9.98 to 0.02. While having some imbalance was normal because people tended to have an affinity towards the spiritual or physical side of chakra, Itachi's chakra balance was so abnormal that his incomplete chakra was trying to compensate for the imbalance. His huge yin chakra was trying to act as the yang chakra to keep his chakra core in balance from fracturing. It also didn't help that he had a huge amount of yin chakra that wouldn't be in a five year old which caused the pre-mature activation of the Sharingan. If Itachi continued to use chakra, he would eventually drive himself into an early grave.

It was when the woman had to make a decision. _Should I save this child? Should I help this individual who would eventually grow up to become a killer? Should I help him using the very energy that I would take back from those pest in the future?_

She closed her eyes and smiled as her heart already decided what to do. She tried to justify her thoughts that since he provided some much needed companionship ever since her sons locked her in this everlasting prison, she should return the favor. Then, she leaned forward.

While the woman was analyzing Itachi, Itachi was in turn taking in all her features from her inhuman aura to her motherly smile – a smile that his new mother always had when she was proud or happy of him. It was when Itachi felt her aura gathering somewhere was when he felt the overwhelming power she had on her fingertips. Power that he could only gather from dedicating himself for a lifetime and still he would only gain a small fraction of that power. But despite the aura, he somehow felt at home with the female. It was like an instinct to Itachi when a cat would immediately tell which cat was its mother.

His musing was cut off when he felt something soft press on his lips. When his eyes focused, he saw the snow-haired woman kissing him. Feeling slightly shocked, he could only stare wide-eyed at the woman while his eyeballs were threatening to come out of his skull.

Because of the shock factor, Itachi never realized that the woman was transferring her own yang chakra to Itachi the easiest and fastest way – via mouth-to-mouth. Itachi's yin chakra quickly embraced the familiar pure chakra and quickly started to set his core into balance. Although it would take a couple of days for the core to re-stabilize, Itachi wouldn't face a pre-mature death. Rather, Itachi would gain some benefits later on from absorbing chakra from its main purified source.

Meanwhile, instincts ingrained from Itachi's past lover caused him to be a gentleman and after a few seconds of being shocked, absently return the kiss the way his past wife liked it. As he kissed back to the woman, she gave out a soft moan in pleasure. Although she had children (which she created using her own DNA and chakra), she never kissed anyone on the mouth before since her duties took up all the free time she had so the unusual feeling on her mouth took her off guard.

Surprised, the woman's mouth slipped open just a little, and Itachi took the chance to slip her tongue into her mouth. Itachi's tongue curled around the woman's tongue, and she found herself involuntarily groaning as Itachi displayed an unbelievable dexterity with his intraoral digit for a five year old. As the kiss continued, the woman gave up her resistance and fell limp on the snow as a five year old bore down on her. What became a chakra transfer moment turned into a somewhat erotic make out session in the snow that Jiraiya would love to include in his novel. After what seemed like an hour to the woman, Itachi backed off with a small smile.

After the pair separated, the individuals were breathing deeply for air with slightly red tinted cheeks. Itachi, just now realizing what he had just done, could only look in shock at the woman's response because she, herself was giggling softly at Itachi. He took her precious first kiss after all.

She smiled when she saw the red eyes on the boy, indicating her chakra was already fixing him. But the eyes were unique: it was crimson red with a black ring on it. The dojutsu looked like a downgrade of her Rinne Sharingan without any tomoe _._

Seeing the flickering of the male figure in front of her, she concluded that he was leaving soon. So, she said, " _My name is Otsutsuki Kaguya. I gave you a little piece of my power for keeping me company. Show me how you will change the word. I will always be watching over you._ "

With a small kiss on the forehead by the Rabbit Goddess, Itachi disappeared.

" _I wonder…will he accept someone as old as me?_ " She murmured to herself when she put a hand on her cheek. Then she let out a little giggle, " _Fufufu…I think Uchiha Kaguya sounds nice…or maybe_ _Otsutsuki Itachi..._ _"_ After a couple of seconds, she closed her eyes before floating back in the sky but this time with a smile adorned on her face. She just needed to wait for the boy, no man, to come visit her again. She waited eons for her third son to set her free. She could wait a few more days for some company.

 **A/N:**

 **So you probably noticed how OC Uchiha Fugaku is acting. He is being used as comic relief because the Uchiha as a whole are not very emotional people. This means that the story would be really flat and boring because I plan to have Itachi interact a lot with different Uchihas in the story to expand a bit on their background. I will, however, try to keep the same Uchiha core values like their arrogance and obsession.**

 **Write a review and tell me how you like (or don't like T_T) this story!**


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